Bentley at Le Mans

| 30 Jun 2014

From the first race in 1923 through to the high-tech prototypes of the modern era, Bentley has been touched by the magic of Le Mans. Success came early for the  firm, taking overall victory at the second meeting, and from that point onwards success in the world's greatest endurance race became synonymous with the company's fortunes.

Bentley's crowning achievement came courtesy of its new owner, Woolf Barnato, who won three consecutive races from 1928-'30, the 1929 event resulting in a clean sweep of the top four positions. After that, the firm spent a number of years in the sporting wilderness with the exception of the one-off Embericos, which was campaigned privately in the post-war years until its triumphant return at the turn of the millennium. 

 

Bentley was involved with the endurance race from the very first meeting in 1923. Captain John F. Duff and Frank Clement took their Bentley 3 Litre Sport to a respectable fourth place.

 

 

Duff and Clement took victory in 1924 only a year after their first attempt. It would signal the beginning of a dominant spell for Bentley.

 

 

Duff and Clement failed to finish in '25, as did Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis, photographed here in 1926.

 

By 1927 the Bentley Boys had well and truly arrived. Clement, Callingham, d'Erlanger, Duller, Davis and Benjafield relax after the race. WO Bentley stands behind. 

 

Woolf Barnato took the reins himself in 1928, taking the chequered flag with Bernard Rubin in 'Old Mother Gun'. Henry 'Tim' Birkin and Jean Chassagne finished fifth.

Barnato and Birkin lead Jack Dunfee and Glen Kidston's Speed Six to a Bentley one-two in 1929. 

 

 

Again Barnato tastes victory, this time in 1930 with Glen Kidston and 'Old Number One'. Here, the mechanics get to grips with Clement and Watney's Speed Six – they went on to finish second.

 

 

The Speed Sixes of Barnato and Clement storm passed the seventh-placed Bugatti T40 of Mmes Marguerite and Odette Siko in 1930. 

 

 

Bentley's involvement at Le Mans in the early post-war period was limited to the Embericos Bentley, a streamlined design based on a 41/4 Litre. It was campaigned three times by its second owner, HSF Hay, who managed to finish sixth in 1949.

 

 

Bentley finally returned to Le Mans at the turn of the millennium, with Martin Brundle taking up the cudgels in 2001. Here he is during the first practice session.

 

 

Bentley's second year in the modern era proved as fruitless as the first, but the Speed 8 showed a great deal of promise.

 

 

The Crewe firm finally found a return to form in 2003, with Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Guy Smith bringing home the silverware ahead of Mark Blundell, David Brabham and Johnny Herbert, thus breaking Audi's three-year dominance of the race.